Preparing For Night Driving

When driving at night we become reliant on artificial sources of light. Whether these sources of light come from our own car headlamps, from other cars or from street lamps we need to ensure that we utilise them to gain maximum benefit. This means making sure your headlamps are clean (and working properly!), cleaning and ensuring visibility from windows and mirrors. Cracks an scratches on windows and on mirrors should be dealt with as soon as possible. Frost, water and even snow can seriously impair our vision and it is doubly important that these are properly cleared when travelling at night.

Your lights – headlights, rear lights, signalling lights, plate lights and any others that your car has are all so vitally important not just so you can see the road and other road users, but so that others can see you. In many cases having working lights is not just important, it’s the law.

Checking A Used Car Before Purchase

When buying a used car seller might be a car dealer, a co-worker, a family member, a friend or a neighbour; either way you need to make the same checks. While friends and family most likely will not have any desire to fob you off with a sub-standard quality machine, it may be that they simply don’t know what they should be looking for.

Some American states require that sellers of used cars must pass a vehicle inspection before a sale is made. Even if this isn’t the case then it may still be an idea to carry one out. Finding out if your state requires such a check is a simple case of a phone call to you state Attorney General’s office. Other countries like the UK do not require such a test for used cars but they still need to be properly insured and have an up to date MOT. Don’t let someone ply you with excuses as to why the proper documentation is not in place.

Using your own vehicle checklist can help to remember just what you should be looking for, so take one with you when you insect the car. Checklists are published all over the Internet and in books and magazines. Little things like checking that the heating and defrosting works can easily be overlooked when buying a car in summer: a used car checklist can help to prevent this kind of oversight.

Test driving the car is vitally important as there is no way you can gauge the car’s performance when it is in the garage or on someone’s yard. If the seller won’t let you take it for a test drive then – sniff sniff – there’s that rat again.

Simple Checks You Can Make On Your Car Part 2

There are a few simple checks that you can quickly make on your car to prevent those little niggles becoming much bigger problems. Even if you are not technically minded or consider yourself mechanically disabled, you can still carry out these little tasks in a few minutes. Read on!

Check your lights. Lights should be clean and they should work. This includes all lights on your car, even the number plate light (which, in some places, must be working to make the car road legal).

Check your tyres – bulges, cuts or foreign objects can lead to much bigger problems like a fully flat tyre or a blow out when you are on the motorway. Either way they should be avoided at all costs. Checking tyre pressure is easily carried using the right equipment. Incorrect pressure can lead to poor fuel economy and may lead more readily to flat tyres.

Simple maintenance checks like these really can help prevent a disaster with your car. Look after your car and it will look after you!

Simple Checks You Can Make On Your Car Part 1

There are number of quick and simple checks that can be made on your car. These checks require little or no experience to carry out, and they may just help your car last that little bit longer.

Check your windscreen wash reservoir regularly. No windscreen wash fluid means a dirty windscreen which at best is annoying and at worst can be fatal.

Fluids leaking from the car could point to a serious problem, so get the car checked as soon as possible. If the fluid is petrol, oil, radiator fluid or something else even more nasty then get it check immediately. There are no excuses.

Smells and sounds can indicate problems, so try and identify the location (and if possible the cause of either) if any make themselves apparent. Burning smells especially are very bad, for obvious reasons.

Regular replacement of wiper blades is easy and cheap and it can prevent that banshee-like howl that sometimes comes from the blades on your windscreen. Slip them off, slip the new ones on and away you go.

GAP Insurance For Car Loans And Finance

There is a period of time, just after you have bought your car, when the value plummets (due to the tax and showroom costs applied when you buy) and the real value of the car is less than you paid for it (and potentially the loan you took out for it). The real value is the only value that is relevant for insurance purposes and so if your car is written off for insurance purposes then the value covered will not match the amount you owe.

After a while this insured -vs- owed gap will narrow and the real value will more closely resemble the car’s value to you. Before this happens though you may still stand to lose a significant amount of money if the worse happens.

To help protect against this eventuality some car insurance providers offer ‘GAP’ insurance. GAP insurance was established in the early 1980s to provide protection for just this eventuality.

Driving At Night

All drivers, no matter what age, sex or ability, need to be careful when driving at night. The night driving experience is markedly different to that of driving during the day and it is a sad fact that most road fatalities happen after dark; this despite there being fewer other cars on the road.

So why is night driving so difficult? Vision and perception. Our ability to see what lies ahead is seriously impaired and, as a consequence, so is our ability to react to it. Things will often appear to just jump out of the dark into, if we’re unlucky, or path.

The more dangerous driving becomes – in bad conditions like snow, heavy rain or in the dark – the more care we need to put into ensuring we drive safely. Being prepared for these conditions is one step towards mastering them.

Increasing common sense, alertness and awareness are all easy steps to take towards night time safety as is, wait for it, slowing down. Preventive measures are much better than repairing a problem, so take your time and think!

Fuel Catalyst For Money And Piece Of Mind

Saving the planet, helping your lungs, and keeping your wallet full is all possible with a few simple steps. A fuel catalyst can help on all these fronts, is cheap to purchase, is used in only small doses, and can be effective when used in biodiesel, propane, RFG, diesel and gasoline. It is a tried and tested solution to a worldwide problem.

A catalyst that increases the efficiency of your engine’s use of fuel – essentially supercharging the fuel – means less fuel for more miles. The benefits of this improvement are obvious. Some catalysts provide up to a 35% increase in fuel efficiency. Naturally you will need to balance the cost of the catalyst against the improvement that it brings but in almost all cases there is a tangible benefit from their use.

The ideal catalyst will reduce the poisons in the air, improve the efficiency of your car’s use of fuel, and reduce the wear and tear on the engine.

Improving Your Car’s Mileage

Petrol – or Gasoline, depending on where you live – is slowly getting more and more expensive. This trend is unlikely to stop anytime soon so it will become more and more important to ensure your car gets good mileage from its fuel. Keeping your engine running smoothly can not only help your pocket, it may also help your car last longer and it will definitely help the environment. Maintenance can help with this but also choosing the right fuel – and perhaps a car that runs on a fuel other than diesel or gasoline – can help greatly.

Car fuel poisons the air and whether you believe in global warming or not it is undeniable that pollution is bad for everyone. Pollution due to burning of fuels is most obvious in large cities where it manifests itself as a cloud of smog and impure air is the norm, but pollution is everywhere your car goes. Research shows that these poisons can cause lung problems, asthma, cancers, heart disease and even Alzheimer’s disease.

Buying A Used Car – Private Or Garage?

Depending on whether you decide to purchase from an individual or from a garage you may need to take extra precautions and undertake additional checks. Private sellers are not generally covered in the same way under the law as garages – they certainly don’t have a reputation to be worried about like a garage would.

Make sure you know where the seller lives: meeting them on some waste ground for the sale is not only a bad idea in terms of your private security, it should also send those internal alarm bells ringing. While gauging the seller’s attitude and general demeanour isn’t a sure-fire way of guaranteeing a great quality used car, it can help you identify some of the bad apples before you start.

If you’re going with a private seller then ask that seller if you can have your mechanic check the vehicle. If the seller says no then you’ve sniffed out the rat: walk away now. Your ‘new’ car will not be covered by any warranties or guarantees and is sold as-is: this is where caveat emptor – buyer beware – comes in. Check. Everything. Thoroughly.